Abstract
Bioprinting is increasingly used to create complex tissue constructs for an array of research applications, and there are also increasing efforts to print tissues for transplantation. Bioprinting may also prove valuable in the context of drug screening for personalized medicine for treatment of diseases such as cancer. However, the rapidly expanding bioprinting research field is currently limited by access to bioprinters. To increase the availability of bioprinting technologies we present here an open source extrusion bioprinter based on the E3D motion system and tool changer to enable high-resolution multimaterial bioprinting. As proof of concept, the bioprinter is used to create collagen constructs using freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels (FRESH) methodology, as well as multimaterial constructs composed of distinct sections of laminin and collagen. Data is presented demonstrating that the bioprinted constructs support growth of cells either seeded onto printed constructs or included in the bioink prior to bioprinting. This open source bioprinter is easily adapted for different bioprinting applications, and additional tools can be incorporated to increase the capabilities of the system.
Highlights
A relatively low spatial resolution, and cell viability can be compromised due to the mechanical stress generated during extrusion of cells through the deposition needle or n ozzle[12]
The Freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels (FRESH) bioprinting strategy has been widely adopted throughout the bioprinting research c ommunity[17]; designing bioprinting platforms that are compatible with FRESH bioprinting will likely be of great general interest
In the present study we present an open source extrusion-based bioprinter built around the E3D motion system and tool changer, with the potential to produce constructs using up to four syringe pump tools and bioinks
Summary
A relatively low spatial resolution, and cell viability can be compromised due to the mechanical stress generated during extrusion of cells through the deposition needle or n ozzle[12]. Strategies that have been employed to circumvent this limitation include the use of sacrificial support materials This allows for a construct to be printed in one or more bioinks of choice, while it is simultaneously embedded in a structurally supportive scaffold material printed in parallel. Once the construct is complete and stabilized through post-printing reactions or treatments, the sacrificial material can be removed to release the construct This technique can be used to introduce design features such as channels that facilitate the perfusion of printed constructs[13,14]. This strategy employing sacrificial materials typically demands a bioprinting platform with the capacity to perform multimaterial printing. FRESH bioprinting as well as multimaterial printing with collagen and laminin was performed to demonstrate the capacity of the system
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